Have you had to call off of work for the fifth time this year due to unreliable childcare?
Are you looking for a new nanny or babysitter because your current provider just isn’t a good fit for your family.
Whether you’ve been looking for childcare for your first child, or you’re looking to switch childcare after you’ve been with your babysitter for years — finding the right fit can be intimidating.
Unfortunately, not all childcare providers are created equally.
Therapeutic Parenting Method understands how frustrating the process can be. The interviews, screenings, and learning who to trust are long, and hard, and we’re here to help.
In this post we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about looking for childcare providers, why reliable care is so important, and how we can help find the perfect fit for your family.
2 Common Mistakes Parents Make When Looking for Childcare Providers
Research on the brain shows that the first years of life are crucial for intellectual, social and general development – 80% of the brain develops by age three.
This statistic alone is enough to show that it is essential that our children receive high-quality, developmentally appropriate care.
When hiring a childcare provider, parents seeking childcare take two different routes. They either:
Mistake #1: Emphasizing Instinct
Parents emphasize “instinct” and “gut reactions” when choosing a childcare provider. They feel good about a person or childcare center and trust their gut.
While parents’ instincts are strong indicators about childcare providers, it’s simply not enough to depend on a first impression or their gut reaction.
When hiring childcare providers, you must do a deep dive into the people you are considering to help raise your children.
Or parents do the following:
Mistake #2: Making the Convenient Choice
Parents often make the quick or easy choice when choosing a childcare provider — without any training or guidance.
Unfortunately, this quick/easy choice is very often not the “right” or “ideal” choice. This often leads to:
- Stress
- Time away from work
- Wasted money
- The emotional strain on the children
These issues are even more common in new parents, especially who may lack reliable contacts who:
- Have knowledge about what is reasonable to expect from caregivers
- Can recommend good care
- Have the perspective that comes from greater parenting experience.
These mistakes often lead to many parents becoming dissatisfied with their childcare arrangements and a high turnover rate in childcare providers.
Parents Seeking Childcare: Qualities of A Childcare Provider
If you aren’t sure what to look for when choosing childcare, it’s important to note that you are not alone.
Approximately 14.5 million children under the age of six in need of childcare and many of those parents aren’t sure what to look for in a childcare provider.
At Therapeutic Parenting Method, we recommend that all the parents seeking childcare should list their “must-have traits.”
These must-have traits will be based on your family’s unique needs.
Will you be hiring a full-time nanny for your newborn? If so, some of the qualities you’ll most likely want in a nanny may be:
- Patient
- Nurturing
- Trustworthy
- Flexibility
- Prior experience with infants
- Etc.
Infancy is full of developmental milestones, and it’s vital that you have a caregiver who can provide outstanding care for your baby.
If you’re looking for someone to hang out with your elementary school-aged children for a few hours between when they get out of school and you get out of work, you may not need someone with years of experience.
Reliability and trustworthiness would still be very important traits for your provider to have — regardless of your childrens’ age.
For elementary school-aged children, you may want to look for a babysitter who can better suit their needs — like being able to help with homework, prepare dinner, and help teach them responsibility.
When I help families looking for childcare I often remind them there is no “one-size-fits-all” childcare plan. What’s best for one family may completely differ from what’s best for another.
Start by examining your family’s specific needs. Once you have a clear idea of what you’re looking for in a childcare provider, the rest of the process becomes much easier.
The Importance of Reliable Childcare
In the United States, more than 12 million children under six spend every week in some type of childcare arrangement.
Close to 40% of all child care workers need to be replaced each year.
The constant turnover of child care providers has big impacts on children and their development — especially for children under the age of three.
And that’s only one of the reasons finding reliable care is important.
Effects of Unreliable Child Care On Employers
65% of working parents are late to work or leave early an average of 7.5 times in six months due to child care issues.
Studies show that unscheduled absences cost employers $1,685 per employee every year. How many of those absences are due to unreliable childcare?
According to Forbes, 45% working parents miss at least one day of work every six months due to a child care problem — with an average of 4.3 missed days of work in a six-month timeframe.
Not only are companies impacted by unexcused absences due to childcare issues, but 31% of parent employees report that they have considered leaving their employers due to these issues.
The cost to retrain a single employee is estimated to be one and one-half times the employee’s annual salary.
